A SAFE HUDDLE
by Dave Brown
Many of you recognize the name Mike Singletary. He was a perennial all-pro linebacker for the Chicago Bears, two-time NFL defensive player of the year, NFL Hall of Famer, and currently head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. Mike earned a reputation as a crushing tackler, a fierce force on the field and the heart and soul of the “Da Bears”. Less known and infinitely more important, Mike Singletary is a faithful follower of Jesus Christ.
One time when asked what he missed most about pro football, he said it as getting into the huddle. It was a safe place where he could get direction, support and correction. It was a place where he could regroup for the next phase of the battle, knowing ten other guys were there to help him win. For away games in hostile stadiums, the huddle was the only refuge. It was the only place where he could get encouragement to keep going.
Every man whether he’s a Hall of Famer or not longs for a safe place where he can get what he needs to enter life’s battles and keep going. If a man is going to win, not just survive, the battles of life, he needs a huddle of godly men around him to remind him who he is and what he is living for and to help bind up his wounds.
All of us long for and need men to cheer for us and celebrate with us in the good times and help us through the bad times. In beginning God said it’s not good for us to be alone. God made us for himself and for relationship with others. We’ll never be what God wants us to be apart from authentic relationships. He made us to be true blood brothers in a supernatural community of men who share the same identity, legacy and destiny in Christ.
Romans 12:4 says, “In Christ we who are many form one body and each member belongs to all the others.” C. S. Lewis put it this way: “God can show Himself as He really is only to real men. And that means not simply to men who are individually good, but to men who are united together in a body, loving one another, helping one another, showing Him to one another. For that is what God meant humanity to be like; like players in one band, or organs in one body.”
The Lone Ranger never revealed his true identity. Posers never do either. A loner deprives others of what he has to offer as he deprives himself of what others have to offer him. Brothers in Christ don’t wear masks. They’re to be open, approachable, and real with one another. We’re to also live for one another.-- one for all for and all for one.
While its good to be in a huddle, the game of life is played on the field, not in the stands, on the benc. Every day we’re called out on to the field of life. God is looking for full time players to take the field, ready to play every down and ready to pay the price to help the team move down the field. God wants us connected and devoted to one another. He wants us really matter to one another. Being in a supernatural community of godly men is being intertwined and invested in one another and loving one another -- one for all and all for one! This is what we were meant for –this is the real deal. It transcends everything else.
